Women and higher education: Access, equity, and opportunities for women in the workplace

  • A. G. Dosunmu University of South Africa, Pretoria
  • M. Dichaba University of South Africa, Pretoria
Keywords: higher education, women, career opportunity, access, workplace, equity

Abstract

Women in corporate sectors across South Africa are not adequately represented. Despite the influx of women in the workforce, they are still experiencing challenges in leadership positions compared to their male counterparts. Thus, the gender gap has caused most women to put extra effort into building their careers through personal efforts ‒ mentorship, networking, and further training. This article analyzed quantitative data and discussed how access to higher education influences career choice and the advancement of women in the telecommunication industry in South Africa. One hundred and thirty-three (133) junior and middle women workers from a telecommunication company were chosen randomly to understand how they plan to build their careers and the challenges they have encountered. The finding indicates that the driving force among the respondents was the opportunities they had created for themselves to progress in their careers.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

A. G. Dosunmu, University of South Africa, Pretoria

Department of Adult Community and Continuing Education

M. Dichaba, University of South Africa, Pretoria

Department of Adult Community and Continuing Education

References

Akter, M., M. Rahman, and D. Radicic. 2022. “Gender-Aware Framework in International Entrepreneurship: How Far Developed? ‒ A Systematic Literature Review.” Sustainability 14(22): 15326.

Allahverdi, F. Z. 2022. “Relationship between perceived social media addiction and social media applications frequency usage among university students.” Psychology in the Schools 59(6): 1075‒1087.

Allen, K. R., A. E. Goldberg, and A. L. Jaramillo-Sierra. 2022. “Feminist theories: Knowledge, method, and practice.” In Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies: A Dynamic Approach, 379‒400. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Anderson-Gough, F., C. Edgley, K. Robson, and N. Sharma. 2022. “Organizational responses to multiple logics: Diversity, identity and the professional service firm.” Accounting, Organizations and Society 103: 101336.

Aruleba, K. and N. Jere. 2022. “Exploring digital transforming challenges in rural areas of South Africa through a systematic review of empirical studies.” Scientific African 16: e01190.

Battilana, J., J. Yen, I. Ferreras, and L. Ramarajan. 2022. “Democratizing work: Redistributing power in organizations for a democratic and sustainable future.” Organization Theory 3(1): 26317877221084714.

Bibilashvili, L., N. Kaladze, and M. Bandzeladze. 2022. “138 Career Development and Leadership Opportunities in Public Relations from Georgian Perspective.” In Towards a New Understanding of Masculine Habitus and Women and Leadership in Public Relations, 138‒148. Routledge.

Bibri, S. E. 2022. “The social shaping of the metaverse as an alternative to the imaginaries of data-driven smart cities: A study in science, technology, and society.” Smart Cities 5(3): 832‒874.

Blakemore, K. and B. Cooksey. 2017. A sociology of education for Africa. Routledge.

Breetzke, D. G. and W. D. Hedding. 2016. “The changing racial profile of academic staff at South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), 2005–2013.” Africa Education Review 13(2): 147‒164. https://doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2016.1224114.

Business Women’s Association of South Africa. 2017. Women in leadership census. bwasa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2017-BWASA-CENSUS-report.pdf.

BWASA see Business Women’s Association of South Africa.

Chandra-Mouli, V., M. Plesons, and A. Amin. 2018. “Addressing harmful and unequal gender norms in early adolescence.” Nature Human Behaviour 2(4): 239‒240. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0318-3.

Cislaghi, B., S. Bankar, R. K. Verma, L. Heise, and M. Collumbien. 2020. “Widening cracks in patriarchy: Mothers and daughters navigating gender norms in a Mumbai slum.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 22(2): 166‒183. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5347-3.

Clark, S., M. MacLachlan, K. Marshall, N. Morahan, C. Carroll, K. Hand, N. Boyle, and K. O’Sullivan. 2022. “Including digital connection in the united nations sustainable development goals: A systems thinking approach for achieving the SDGs.” Sustainability 14(3): 1883.

Coe, I. R., R. Wiley, and L. G. Bekker. 2019. “Organisational best practices towards gender equality in science and medicine.” The Lancet 393(10171): 587‒593. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)33188-x.

Coetzee, M. 2019. “Goal facilitation theory as counseling framework for enhancing employees’ career adaptability and thriving at work.” In Handbook of Innovative Career Counselling, 71‒88. Springer, Cham.

Cohen, D. K. and S. M. Karim. 2022. “Does more equality for women mean less war? Rethinking sex and gender inequality and political violence.” International Organization 76(2): 414‒444.

Corporate Research Foundation. 2011. Best employers: Identifying best employers since 1991. www.bizcommunity.com/PressOffice/TopEmployersInstitute.

Courey, K., M. Ruffin, M. Hebl, D. Stewart, M. Townsend, L. Seged, J. Williams, C. Patterson, S. Mei, and E. King. 2022. “Gender in Organizations.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology.

Czerniawski, G., A. Guberman, and A. MacPhail. 2017. “The professional developmental needs of higher education-based teacher educators: An international comparative needs analysis.” European Journal of Teacher Education 40(1): 127‒140. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2016.1246528.

De Castro, M. A. and F. J. García-Peñalvo. 2022. “Examples of Good Practices in Erasmus+ Projects that Integrate Gender and STEM in Higher Education.” In Women in STEM in Higher Education. Good Practices of Attraction, Access and Retainment in Higher Education, 181‒197.

Dewitt, S., V. Jafari-Sadeghi, A. Sukumar, R. Aruvanahalli Nagaraju, R. Sadraei, and F. Li. 2022. “Family dynamics and relationships in female entrepreneurship: An exploratory study.” Journal of Family Business Management 13(3): 626‒644.

Dosunmu, A. G. and K. S. Adeyemo. 2018. “Lifelong learning, human capital development and the career advancement of women in the telecommunications industry in South Africa.” Industry and Higher Education 32(3): 192‒199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422218765501.

Duguma, L. A., J. Nzyoka, E. Obwocha, P. Minang, P. Wainaina, and K. Muthee. 2022. “The forgotten half? Women in the forest management and development discourse in Africa: A review.” Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 5: 948618.

Durowaiye, B. E. and S. Khan. 2017. “The relativity of socio-cultural factors on young people’s access to higher education in Africa.” South African Journal of Higher Education 31(5): 31‒48. https://doi.org/10.20853/31-5-904.

Eklund, K. E., E. S. Barry, and N. E. Grunberg. 2017. “Gender and leadership.” In Gender differences in different contexts, ed. Aida Alvinius, 129‒150. https://doi.org/10.5772/65457.

Ellemers, N. 2018. Gender stereotypes. Annual Review of Psychology 69: 275‒298. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011719.

Ezebuilo, H. C. 2023. “Human rights, gender equality and justice: A re-examination of male chauvinism in African culture. Preorc Journal of Gender And Sexuality Studies 1: 243‒259.

Feldberg, A. C. 2022. “The task bind: Explaining gender differences in managerial tasks and performance.” Administrative Science Quarterly 67(4): 1049‒1092.

Fernandes, V., C. Kuzey, A. Uyar, and A. S. Karaman. 2023. “Board structure policy, board diversity and social sustainability in the logistics and transportation sector.” International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management 53(1): 62‒92.

Fox Tree, J. E. and J. Vaid. 2022. “Why so few, still? Challenges to attracting, advancing, and keeping women faculty of color in academia.” Frontiers in Sociology 6: 238.

Frankema, E., M. de Haas, and M. van Waijenburg. 2023. “Inequality regimes in Africa from pre-colonial times to the present.” African Affairs 122(486): 57‒94.

García-Peñalvo, F. J., A. García-Holgado, A. Dominguez, and J. Pascual. 2022. Women in STEM in Higher Education: Good Practices of Attraction, Access and Retainment in Higher Education, 197. Springer Nature.

Góral, A. 2023. “Women in public cultural organizations and their professional paths strategies: A rhizomatic approach.” Gender, Work & Organization 30(3): 937‒956.

Hattery, A. J. 2022. “Feminist lecture: (Re)Imagining gender-based violence as a strategy for enforcing institutional segregation and reproducing structural inequalities. Gender & Society 36(6): 789‒812.

Hearn, J. and D. Collinson. 2017. “Men, masculinities and gendered organisations.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management, ed. R. Aldag and S. Nkomo. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.55.

Hideg, I. and D. L. Ferris. 2017. “Dialectical thinking and fairness-based perspectives of affirmative action.” Journal of Applied Psychology 102(5): 782. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000207.

Hill, L. H. and C. A. Wheat. 2017. “The influence of mentorship and role models on university women leaders’ career paths to university presidency.” The Qualitative Report 22(8): 2090. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2437.

Hing, L. S. S., N. Sakr, J. B. Sorenson, C. S. Stamarski, K. Caniera, and C. Colaco. 2023. “Gender inequities in the workplace: A holistic review of organizational processes and practices.” Human Resource Management Review 33(3): 100968.

Hoang, T., J. Suh, and M. Sabharwal. 2022. “Beyond a numbers game? Impact of diversity and inclusion on the perception of organizational justice.” Public Administration Review 82(3): 537‒555.

Hoff, S. 2023. “Ethical Life and the Feminist Critic.” In The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism and Feminist Philosophy, 293‒308. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Holbrow, H. J. 2022. “When All Assistants Are Women, Are All Women Assistants? Gender Inequality and the Gender Composition of Support Roles.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(7): 28‒47.

Holness, W. 2016. “Employment equity and elimination of discrimination: Where are women with disabilities in the hierarchy?” Agenda 30(1): 49‒64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2016.1187521.

Hooker, J. and M. E. Guy. 2022. “Chapter 14. Gender and representative bureaucracy.” Handbook on Gender and Public Administration, 212‒229. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789904734.00023.

Jach, Ł., M. Paruzel-Czachura, L. Aiken, and P. K. Jonason. 2023. “How do the moral foundations attract the needle of a moral compass? Relative scores as a supplementary method of measuring moral foundations.” Personality and Individual Differences 205: 112106.

Jain, H. C., P. Sloane, and F. Horwitz. 2015. Employment equity and affirmative action: An international comparison. Routledge.

Jauhar, J. and V. Lau. 2018. “The ‘glass ceiling’ and women’s career advancement to top management: The moderating effect of social support.” Global Business and Management Research 10(1): 163‒178. http://www.gbmrjournal.com/.

Jiang, Z., L. DeHart‐Davis, and E. L. Borry. 2022. “Managerial Practice and Diversity Climate: The Roles of Workplace Voice, Centralization, and Teamwork.” Public Administration Review 82(3): 459‒472.

Jones, S. J., E. M. Warnick, and E. M. Palmer. 2016. “Environment barriers and their effects on the perception of women on the tenure track.” NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education 9(1): 21‒38. https://doi.org/10.1080/19407882.2015.1057163.

Kalumba, M., H. Daka, K. Kalimaposo, C. Phiri, L. M. Mulenga-Hagane, and A. Mugala. 2023. “Navigation Strategies by Women into Decision-Making Positions in the Ministry of Education, Zambia.” European Journal of Development Studies 3(3): 147‒155.

Kroese, I. 2022. “Is employee training really gender-neutral? Introducing a sex/gender-sensitive model of training.” Human Resource Management Review 32(4): 100890.

Kwachou, M. 2023. “In response to Acker: Black and African feminist theories on gender and education.” Comparative Education 59(2): 169‒192.

Larsen, A. and S. Emmett. 2023. “The wicked problem of social equity in higher education: The conflicting discourses and the impact of COVID-19.” In Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice in Education: A Critical Exploration of the Sustainable Development Goals, 29‒42. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

Lee, H. A. and L. Mondi. 2018. “Affirmative action and corporate development in Malaysia and South Africa.” In Handbook of the International Political Economy of the Corporation. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Lloyd, A., J. Gore, K. Holmes, M. Smith, and L. Fray. 2018. “Parental influences on those seeking a career in STEM: The primacy of gender.” International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology 10(2): 308‒328. http://genderandset.open.ac.uk/index.php/genderandset.

Mabokela, R. O. and Y. A. Mlambo. 2017. “Access and equity and South African higher education: A review of policies after 20 years of democracy.” Comparative Education Review 61(4): 780‒803. https://doi.org/10.1086/693913.

Mallia, K. L. and K. Windels. 2018. “Female Representation among Advertising’s Creative Elite: A Content Analysis of the Communication Arts Advertising Annual.” Advertising & Society Quarterly 18(4).

Maseda, A., T. Iturralde, S. Cooper, and G. Aparicio. 2022. Mapping women’s involvement in family firms: A review based on bibliographic coupling analysis. International Journal of Management Reviews 24(2): 279‒305.

McKeever, M. 2017. “Educational inequality in apartheid South Africa.” American Behavioral Scientist 61(1): 114‒131. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764216682988.

Mittner, G. 2022. “Blix: Sustainable gender equality: Opening the black-box of quality assessment in higher arts education.” In Gender and the Sustainable Development Goals, ed. A. Skjerven and M. Fordham. Routledge.

Mkhize, Z. 2022. “‘They Are Just Women, What Do They Know?’: The Lived Experiences of African Women Doctoral Students in the Mathematics Discipline in South African Universities.” Transformation in Higher Education 7: 218.

Mntambo, S., P. Adebayo, and C. Ndinda. 2023. “Women, Informal Settlements, and the Policy Practice Disjuncture in South Africa.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems, 1‒22. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Moss-Racusin, C. A., C. Sanzari, N. Caluori, and H. Rabasco. 2018. “Gender bias produces gender gaps in STEM engagement.” Sex Roles 79(11): 651‒670. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0902-z.

Mousa, M. 2022. “Academia is racist: Barriers women faculty face in academic public contexts.” Higher Education Quarterly 76(4): 741‒758.

Muchabaiwa, W. and E. Chauraya. 2022. “The gender blindness of the education 5.0 framework: An obstruction to promotion opportunities for female academics in Zimbabwe.” Management in Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206221126640.

Mutie, S. M. 2022. “Re-membering Wangari Maathai’s Feminist Scholarship in her Autobiography Unbowed: One Woman’s Story.” Journal of Higher Education in Africa/Revue de l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique 20(1): 67‒84.

Naidoo, V. and M. Kongolo. 2018. “Has affirmative action reached South African Women?” Journal of International Women’s Studies 6(1): 124‒136. https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol6/iss1/9/.

Ndinda, C. and T. P. Ndhlovu. 2022. The intersectionality of gender, race and class in the transformation of the workplace in post-apartheid South Africa. In Paradise Lost, 98‒122. Brill.

Nkrumah, T. and K. A. Scott. 2022. “Mentoring in STEM higher education: A synthesis of the literature to (re)present the excluded women of color.” International Journal of STEM Education 9(1): 1‒23.

Nyoni, P. and O. Agbaje. 2022. “UBuntu Philosophy and the Gender Crisis within South Africa’s Higher Education Sector.” In Comparative Education for Global Citizenship, Peace and Shared Living through Ubuntu, 136‒152. Brill.

Okeke, I. N., C. P. Babalola, D. K. Byarugaba, A. Djimde, and O. R. Osoniyi. 2017. “Broadening participation in the sciences within and from Africa: Purpose, challenges, and prospects.” CBE—Life Sciences Education 16(2). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.15-12-0265.

Oosthuizen, R. M., L. Tonelli, and C-H. Mayer. 2019. “Subjective experiences of employment equity in South African organisations.” SA Journal of Human Resource Management/SA Tydskrif vir Menslikehulpbronbestuur 17(0): a1074. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v17i0.1074.

Oseghale, O. R., J. Mulyata, and Y. A. Debrah. 2018. “Global talent management.” In Organisational behaviour and human resource management, 139‒155. Springer, Cham.

Pearson, J., L. A. Giacumo, A. Farid, and M. Sadegh. 2022. “A systematic multiple study review of low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented, STEM-degree support programs: Emerging evidence-based models and recommendations.” Education Sciences 12(5): 333.

Pfingst, C. 2015. “Girls career aspirations: The impact of parents’ economic and educational status on educational and career pathways.” Master’s Thesis. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.

Pokpas, C., L. Craffert, L. Van Audenhove, and I. Marien. 2019. “Women and ICT in South Africa: Mental Models on Gender and ICT in Marginalised Communities.” In 2019 IST-Africa Week Conference (IST-Africa), 1‒8. IEEE.

Posselt, J. R. and A. N. Nuñez. 2022. “Learning in the wild: Fieldwork, gender, and the social construction of disciplinary culture.” The Journal of Higher Education 93(2): 163‒194.

Psaki, S., N. Haberland, B. Mensch, L. Woyczynski, and E. Chuang. 2022. “Policies and interventions to remove gender‐related barriers to girls’ school participation and learning in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of the evidence.” Campbell Systematic Reviews 18(1): e1207.

Ridgeway, C. L. and H. R. Markus. 2022. “The Significance of Status: What It Is and How It Shapes Inequality.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(7): 1‒25.

Riley, A. 2018. Big dream don’t just happen: Challenge the status quo. Re-new your mind. Re-envision your future. Re-define your goals. Friesen Press.

Risman, B. J. 2018. “Gender as a Social Structure.” In Handbook of the Sociology of Gender. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, ed. B. Risman, C. Froyum, and W. Scarborough. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_2.

Rosa, R. and S. Clavero. 2022. “Gender equality in higher education and research.” Journal of Gender Studies 31(1): 1‒7.

Sahinidis, A., D. Stavroulakis, E. Kossieri, and S. Varelas. 2019. “Entrepreneurial intention determinants among female students. The influence of role models, parents’ occupation and perceived behavioral control on forming the desire to become a business owner.” In Strategic Innovative Marketing and Tourism, 173‒178. Springer, Cham.

Sáinz, M. and J. Müller. 2018. “Gender and family influences on Spanish students’ aspirations and values in stem fields.” International Journal of Science Education 40(2): 188‒203. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2017.1405464.

Sandberg, S. 2015. Lean in: Women, work, and the will to lead. Alfred A. Knopf.

Slade, T., E. Duebel, and J. Ryan. 2022. “‘Your double-blind RCT needs feminism’: An argument for engaging critical theory in quantitative rehabilitation research.” Disability and Rehabilitation 45(9): 1563‒1571. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2068679.

Smirles, K. E. S., K. A. Basile, A. Aughenbaugh, S. Nasser, S. Logue, and L. Arteaga. 2020. “Japanese women’s perceptions of gender roles and leadership and the effects of a Women & Leadership Course: A qualitative analysis.” In Women’s Studies International Forum 80: 102359. Pergamon.

Spadaro, G., S. Jin, and D. Balliet. 2023. “Gender differences in cooperation across 20 societies: A meta-analysis.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 378: 20210438.

Sudha, T. and I. A. Reshi. 2023. “Unleashing the power: Empowering women for a stronger economy.” International Journal of Educational Review, Law and Social Sciences (IJERLAS) 3(3): 826‒833.

Sugiyama, K., K. V. Cavanagh, C. van Esch, D. Bilimoria, and C. Brown. 2016. “Inclusive leadership development: Drawing from pedagogies of women’s and general leadership development programs.” Journal of Management Education 40(3): 253‒292. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562916632553.

Taparia, M. and U. Lenka. 2022. “An integrated conceptual framework of the glass ceiling effect.” Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance 9(3): 372‒400.

Tawiah, S. and Z. Thusi-Sefatsa. 2022. “The value of adult and community education and training to the empowerment of rural women in South Africa.” Universal Journal of Educational Research 10(1): 14‒21.

Thaver, B. 2017. “Affirmative action in South Africa: The limits of history.” In Race and Inequality, 167‒186. Routledge.

Thobejane, T. D., L. D. Mogorosi, and B. C. Okere. 2017. “A study on gender mainstreaming: The case of a rural university in Limpopo province, South Africa.” Gender and Behaviour 15(2): 8913‒8929. https://doi.org/10.10520/EJC-b1cd1d513.

Tiron-Tudor, A. and W. A. Faragalla. 2022. “Intersections of women’s identities in professional accountancy careers.” Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management 19(5): 564‒603.

UNESCO Institute of Statistics. 2016. Global education digest: Comparing education statistics across the world. UNESCO.

Xing, X. and J. W. Rojewski. 2018. “Family Influences on Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy of Chinese Secondary Vocational Students.” New Waves-Educational Research and Development Journal 21(1): 48‒67. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1211290.

Zajda, J. 2022. “Discourses of Gender Inequality in Education.” In Discourses of Globalisation and Education Reforms: Overcoming Discrimination, 45‒58. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Zhang, G., Z. Jia, and S. Yan. 2022. “Does gender matter? The relationship comparison of strategic leadership on organizational ambidextrous behavior between male and female CEOs.” Sustainability 14(14): 8559.

Published
2024-08-24
How to Cite
Dosunmu, A. G., and M. Dichaba. 2024. “Women and Higher Education: Access, Equity, and Opportunities for Women in the Workplace”. South African Journal of Higher Education 38 (4), 21-45. https://doi.org/10.20853/38-4-5856.
Section
General Articles